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Their coats are endowed with unusually stiff guard hairs similar to the spines of a hedgehog; this trait is the source of the common name, spiny mouse. Despite their anatomic similarity to members of the genus Mus , genetic evidence suggests that the African spiny mice may be more closely related to gerbils than to common mice.
The southern African spiny mouse (Acomys spinosissimus) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. [2] It is found in Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are moist savanna and rocky areas.
Golden Spiny Mouse from Saudi Arabia, Arabian Peninsula The most frequently studied aspect of Acomys russatus is its apparent ability to switch from nocturnal to diurnal activity patterns. Specifically, it is naturally nocturnal, but will become diurnal when sharing a habitat with its congener , another spiny mouse species, Acomys cahirinus .
Unlike other species in the genus, the fiery spiny mouse does not lose its bare, scaled tail as easily. The fiery spiny mouse varies in color from a deep brown to a reddish mixed with some black on its back while the belly is white. The dorsal surface color has also been described as being orange in color. [4] It has medium-sized ears and black ...
Arabian Spiny Mouse from Eastern Saudi Arabia. The eastern spiny mouse is a small rodent with a head-and-body length of up to 17.5 cm (7 in) and a tail of up to 12.5 cm (5 in), and a maximum weight of about 90 g (3.2 oz). The fur feels coarse when rubbed against the lie of the hairs, each individual hair being dark tan with a greyish tip.
The Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), also known as the common spiny mouse, Egyptian spiny mouse, or Arabian spiny mouse, is a nocturnal species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in Africa north of the Sahara Desert, where its natural habitats are rocky areas and hot deserts .
The fur on its back is tawny, each hair being grey at the base with a rufous sub-terminal band and a grey tip. It takes its name from a line of spiny hairs on the posterior part of the back, in older mice the spiny hairs spread forwards along the back towards the head. The ventral fur is white and separated clearly from the flanks.
Cape spiny mice may live singly or in small groups. They feed almost exclusively on seeds, especially ant dispersed seeds of Restionaceae and Proteaceae with elaiosomes. The remainder of the diet consists of green plant material and insects, millipedes, and snails. In addition, the cape spiny mouse feed extensively on Protea humiflora flower.